The article outlines the main scientific approaches to the correction of convicts in the works of domestic and foreign scientists. The results of solving two research problems are presented. In accordance with the first of them, the analysis of various interpretations of the concept of “correction” in relation to a convicted person for a committed crime, existing within the framework of philosophical, legal, pedagogical and medical approaches, is given. Approaches to the correction of convicts are considered in the development of the views of representatives of these sciences, their distinctive features are shown in the interpretation of factors, causes and conditions affecting the formation and development of qualities and personality traits of the convicted person, which prevent them from committing new crimes. In the course of solving the second task, a characteristic of the psychological approach to the correction of the convict is given. In this regard, the possibilities of using methods of psychoanalysis, behaviorist and humanistic approaches, transactional analysis and gestalt therapy in psychological work on the correction of convicts are analyzed.